Relay



p 1933- M. F. FITZGERALD RELAY Filed Aug. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a; as a7 JJa '33 Sept. 19, 1933.

M, F. FITZGERALD 1,927,775

RELAY Filed Aug. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 19, 1933 PATENT OFFICE RELAY Maurice F. Fitzgerald, Winsted, Conn, assignor to The Fitzgerald Manufacturing Company, Winsted, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application August 27, 1931. Serial No. 559,794

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in electric relays of the type which may be employed for the control of heavy current intensities.

One of the objects of the present invention is the provision of a structure embodying a plung er which may be moved back and forth selectively by solenoids and which carries the moving contact elements, and is held in this end position by toggle devices.

Another feature of the present invention is the association of toggle means with a reciprocable plunger for determining its movements and end positions.

Further features of the invention relate to specific assemblages of parts and structure, as will be pointed out in the following specification and claims. a

An illustrative form of construction of the device according to the present invention is set forth'on the accompanying drawings in which,

' Figure 1 is a plan View, with parts broken away, showing the relay and its moving elements.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same, likewise with parts broken away for clearness of disclosure.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same and showing the contact system.

Figure 4 is a transverse section substantially on line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a similar section substantially on line 55 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary transverse section substantially on line 66 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a circuit diagram.

In these drawings, a base 10 of insulating material supports the several structures. The stirrups 11 pass through the solenoids 12, 13 and support them fixedly on this base. A U-shaped guide piece 14 and the enclosing stop member 15 are held to the stirrups and thus to the base 10 by screws 16. The upstanding arms 14a of the U-shaped member 14 have non-round apertures, e. g. square therein, through which is passed the reciprocable plunger 17 of similar cross section. Indentations 17a are provided at opposite sides of the plunger substantially at its center in the form illustrated for cooperation with toggle links, as hereinafter described. The ends of the plunger 17 are provided with resilient buffer pieces 17b which at the end of the travel of the plung er encounter bosses 15a on the stop member 15 (Figure 2).

Upstanding posts 18 support the resilient blades '19 constituting toggle springs for the toggle links 20 which have reduced ends fitting in slots of the blades 19 to prevent disengagement of these elements. The inner or adjacent ends of the toggle links 20 rest in the depressions 17a.

An aperture in the plunger 17 receives the separable supporting piece 21 which extends above and below the plunger. A bifurcated contact arm 22 fits closely over the plunger and is secured thereto by screws 23, so that the plunger 17 and contact arm 22 form a rigid structure. The reduced outer end of the contact arm 22 passes through apertures in the upturned ends 24a of a Ushaped metal support 24 which is fixedly connected to the insulation sheet 25.

The insulation sheet 25 is in turn connected to the upper contact blade 26 and the lower contact blade 27 which have contact disks or like elements 28 cooperating with the fixed contacts. Likewise, the insulating sheet 25 is connected to the pigtails 29 and 30 which have insulated jackets thereon for the intermediate portion of their lengths and are connected at one end respectively to the contact blades 26, 27 and at the other ends to the posts 31, 32.

The fixed contact structure comprises a conductor member 33 leading from a binding post 34 and having an upturned end 33a with one fixed contact 35 thereon. Another fixed contact 36 is carried by the bent end 37a of a conductor 3'7 which leads to a binding post 38. An insulating piece 39 is located between conductors 33 and 37 while the binding posts 34 and 38 are employed to hold the parts fixedly in position in conjunction with a screw 40.

Opposite the contacts 35, 36 is provided an L- shaped conductor 41 having a metal contact button 42 and a fiber insulating button 43 there on for respective engagement by the moving contact blades.

The several binding posts shown in Figure 1 are connected in the manner indicated in Figure 7, in which the relay is shown as employed for connecting and disconnecting an electric range in response to the operation of a thermostat. Such an arrangement is described, for example, in the co-pending applications of Ludwig Reiohold, Serial No. 506,770, filed January 5, 1931 and Serial No. 524,711, filed March 23, 1931.

In this diagram, the conductors 140, 141 and 142 are supplied with 220 volt current in the usual three-wire system. Conductor 142 is connected to the range switch 104s and thus by conductors to the oven units 104a and 1041), for example, and by conductors 144, 145 to the terminals 38 and 34 of the switch. A branch conductor 148 leads to terminal 81 of the switch and thence by conductor 150 to the blade 120 of a thermostat. The cold contact 121 of the thermostat is connected by conductor 153 to terminal 74 of the switch and thence by conductor 73 with the coil 12 and by conductor '72 to the fixed contact terminal 51. Terminal 34 is connected by branch conductor 77 with the coil 13, and thence to terminal and by conductor 154 to the hot contact 122 of the thermostat. The pigtail posts 31 and 32 are connected to terminals 78 and 80 and thence to line conductors 141, 140 respectively.

In operation, when the oven switch 1048 has been closed, current flows by conductor 142 to the oven resistors and by branch conductor 148 to the movable blade of the thermostat. If the blade is in the cold position another circuit is established from conductor 148 by blade 120, contact 121, conductor 153, terminal 74, conductor 73, coil 12, conductor '72, terminal 51, through the lower moving contact blade 27 to pigtail post 31 and thence by terminal 78 to conductor 141. The coil 12 is energized and the plunger is attracted and is moved electro-magnetically to beyond the center position of the toggle links 20, so that these links through the operation of their springs 19 cause the plunger to be moved into the right hand position shown in Figure 1. The pigtails now close circuits from conductors 140 and 141 by terminals 80 and 78 and the pigtail posts 32 and 31 to the terminals 34 and 38, and thence by conductors 145 and 144 to the switch 104s so that the resistors 104a and 1041) are selectively heated according to the setting of the switch. As the heat increases ultimately the thermostat blade 120 is moved against the hot contact 122. A control circuit is thus established from conductor 142 by conductor 148 and tenninal 81, by conductor 150, thermostat blade 120, hot contact 122, conductor 154, terminal '75, coil 13, conductor 77, terminal 34, and thus back through the oven or directly through the corresponding pigtail to the supply conductors. Coil 13 is thus energized and moves the plunger back to the right hand position in which the pigtail and their movable contacts are separated and current no longer flows to terminals 34 and 38 and thus to the oven resistors, while a control circuit is again established from pigtail post 31 as shown in dotted lines in Figure 7, to the terminal 51. This operation continues as long as the oven switch is at any on position.

It is obvious that the invention is not limited solely to the form of construction shown, and that it may be employed in many ways without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

1. An electromagnetically operated relay comprising a frame, a pair of solenoid coils, a plunger having a notch and a portion of non-round section and adapted to be selectively reciprocated by said coils, means on the frame for guiding said plunger and having conforming non-round apertures for receiving said portion and preventing movement of the plunger about its axis, a radially projecting arm on the plunger, a movable contact supported by said arm, a fixed contact on the frame cooperative with said movable contact, said movable contact being held in position for such cooperation by the engagement of said plunger and guiding means, a toggle link engaged at one end in said notch, and a spring engaged with the frame and the other end of said link for forcing said link toward said plunger.

2. An electromagnetically operated relay comprising a frame, a pair of solenoid coils, a plunger having a notch and a portion of non-round section and adapted to be selectively reciprocated by said coils, means on the frame for guiding said plunger and having conforming non-round apertures for receiving said portion and preventing movement of the plunger about its axis, a radlally projecting arm having one end bifurcated and fixedly connected to the said plunger, a mov-'- able contact supported by said arm, a fixed contact on the frame cooperative with said movable contact, said movable contact being held in position for such cooperation by the engagement of said plunger and guiding means, a toggle link engaged at one end in said notch, and a spring engaged with the frame and the other end of said link for forcing said link toward said plunger, the bifurcations of said arm passing around said spring and link so that the plunger may move back and forth without interference by said link and spring.

MAURICE F. FITZGERALD. 

